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McLain proves to be leader for the Eagles
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FarkChadron State College Information Office
CHADRON, Neb. — If there were or concerns about Joe McLain being a diminutive leader, they were quickly answered with — by all things — his feet. At the conclusion of one of the Eagles’ early fall practices, the senior quarterback from Chadron, who had already run several 100-yard sprints with his offensive cohorts, was stretching when he noticed running backs coach John Reiners wanted the tailbacks to run two more gassers for earlier mistakes.
Without so much a word, McLain strapped on his helmet and ran with his backfield mates.
“That’s why he’s so good at what he does,” quarterback coach and passing game coordinator Chris Stein said.
While McLain is certainly not the Eagles’ biggest player — he’s 5-foot-9 and 168 pounds — the leadership, intelligence and toughness he provides can’t be measured.
“To have someone with his knowledge of the offense and how he runs the show is huge,” Stein said. “For as long as I’ve been here, I’ve never had someone as advanced as he is in our offense. He’s extremely sharp and a great athlete who does physical things well, but his intelligence and leadership really set him apart.”
Not bad accolades for a local kid who was originally recruited to be a kicker.
“When we first brought Joe in, we thought he was going to be a great college kicker,” Stein said. “But within the first week of camp we figured out what we had in him. No one could’ve predicted what he’s become and what he means to the team and he’s really opened our eyes.”
McLain, who started the final four games of his freshman season in 2005 because of injuries to other CSC quarterbacks, has lost just one regular season game and he’s 27-3 as a starter. During that
30-game span, he’s led the Eagles to 18-straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victories and two playoff victories.
Needless to say, there won’t be a quarterback controversy at Chadron State in 2008. For his career, McLain has thrown for 5,304 yards and 42 touchdowns. His career percentage rate is 58.8 percent — the best ever in CSC annals — and he’s also rushed for almost 600 yards and scored 13 touchdowns.
The 2007 season was McLain’s best. In 13 games, he threw for 2,688 yards, which is the fourth highest total in CSC history, and he completed 220 passes to break the previous school record of 199. He was also a big reason why the 2007 Eagles set three school records in total net yards (5,701), most first downs (286) and most points scored (488).
For all his accomplishments in 2007, McLain was voted as the 2008 RMAC Preseason
Offensive Player of the Year.
“He’s the best quarterback I’ve seen since I’ve been at Chadron State,” Eagles’ head coach Bill O’Boyle said.
However, the No. 2 position behind McLain is still up for grabs. The early front-runner appears to be Garrett Treffer, a sophomore from Scottsbluff who took over the backup job in 2007 midway through the season.
“Garrett has had a good camp so far,” Stein said. “He makes a few mistakes, but young quarterbacks in our offense are going to do that. He’s athletic and runs well, and because of that he usually makes up for his mistakes.”
Also in the mix for the No. 2 spot are redshirt freshman Jon Kuzava and sophomore Zac Zandstra.
“Kuzava is a very good young quarterback but his brain needs to catch up with his body,” Stein said. “That takes time, but once he gets there, he’s going to be ready. And Zandstra does a nice job, too. He just needs to be more polished with the little things.”
The Eagles also have true freshman Anthony Springer, a 6-6 quarterback from O’Fallon, Mo., in camp. Stein said Springer has the best arm of the group, but he will redshirt this season.
“He has a great arm but he needs to work on his touch and that’s hard to teach,” he said. “But he’ll get there because he’s working hard.”
While it’d be easy to think the Eagles will want to air it out more this season because of the departure of the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher in Danny Woodhead, Stein was quick to point out he and O’Boyle want the offense to be balanced.
“The biggest responsibility for our quarterbacks is to take care of the football,” he said. “We want to be balanced in our offense, even though we have the capability of airing it out. I think our offensive line and running backs are good enough to run it all the time, and because of that we’re better off in both aspects.”
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